St. Bastard/Daemon/2015 EP Review

 

  St. Bastard  are  a  solo  project  from  New  York  that  plays  a  mixture  of   sludge,  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2015  ep  "Daemon".

  A  very dark  yet melodic  guitar  riff  starts  off  the  ep  and  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  direction  after  a  few  seconds  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  death  metal  growls  can  be  heard  giving t he  music  a  touch  of  black  metal  along  with some  high  pitched  screams.

  Most  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  slow  sludge/doom  metal  direction  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  stick  to  a  very  dark  and  melodic  musical  direction  and  the  whole  ep  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  and  some  of  the  riffs  add  in  a  touch  of  the  more  heavier  style  of  90's  doom/death  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  element s of  harsh  noise  can  be  heard  on  the  last track.  

  St.  Bastard  plays  a  style  of doom/sludge  metal  that  is  very  dark  and  heavy and  also  adds  in  a  slight  touch  of  black  metal,  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  heavy  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  St.  Bastard  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out t his  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Light  Inverted"  and  "Rift".  8  out  of  10.

 

Van Halst/World Of Make Believe/2015 Full Length Review

  Van  Halst  are  a  band  from  Alberta,  Canada  that  plays  a  mixture  of  melodic hard  rock  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  album  "World  of  Make  Believe".

  A  very  dark  atmosphere  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  tribal  beats  a  few  seconds  later  that  also  leads  up  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some  clean  singing  female  vocals  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  hard  rock  elements  in  the  bands  musical  style  while  the  screams  and  growls  add  in  a  touch  of  death  and  black  metal.

  back  up  gang  shouts  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  synths  along  with  elements  of  goth  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  some  songs  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  samples  while  other  tracks  bring  in  elements  of  electronic  music  and  as  the  album  progresses  there  is  a  great  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  either  a slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction.

  Van  Halst  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  goth  metal  and  mainstream  rock  and  mixes  it  in  with  elements  of  black  and  death  metal  to  create  a  style  of   their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  feminism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Van  Halst  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  goth  metal  and  hard  rock  with  a  touch  of  death  and  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Save Me"  "Questions"  "Monster"  and  "perfect  Storm".  8  out  of  10.

        

Kratos Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Very little Metal music was broadcasted and performed in Romania in the mid 90’s and Dan Dron (guitar and vocals) strongly believed that his creative abilities would better come to light if a band was formed which will establish the new face of gothic metal in our country. In light of his desire, he formed the band Kratos in the fall of 1996, aspiring at bringing gothic style music on the Romanian stage.

The first noticeable release was “The Essence”, a demo composed and recorded in 1997. After the release of the demo, several radio and television interviews followed which led to participation in metal festivals around. The performance was awarded and applauded in local and national magazines.

By 1999 we were already a well-established and known band in Romania. It was now time for our first LP. “Looking behind the mirror…” was released in mid 1999 and immediately we started a set of tours to promote its music in Romania and abroad. The band also started to re-tool itself and take full advantage of the opportunities available in gothic music by introducing symphonic elements in our composition. Atmospheric passages became darker and overall the music became more incisive.

In between events we have released three singles: 2002 – Reverse Effect, 2010 – Beyond Knowing and 2013 – It’s Empty II.

Dan Dron remains the band lead and he is accounting for almost all the Kratos compositions. In ’99 Monica Barta joined the band as female vocal and since 2012 she is also the band’s bass guitar player. 2012 is also the year when Iustin (guitars) and Catalin (drums) joined the band completing today’s Kratos lineup.   


2.You have a new album coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

We simply call it dark metal! It is melodic metal with symphonic elements, dynamic passages, theatrical performances, with intriguing and a bit cynical lyrics.
We believe that as we evolve as humans so does the music we compose.


3.The band has been around since 1996 but has only released 2 full length, a demo and a single and also there has been no new material since 2002, can you tell us a little bit more about it?

Composing music takes time and patience. Changes in lineup, economic and political spectrum as well as personal events directly impact the ability to release new material. Also when you want to do the best you have to find the best to work with so the selection process for the band members is thorough and requires time. It is easy to notice that our sound has evolved since 1999. As the years pass everyone progresses as a human being and that gets directly reflects in our music too.

Even if we didn’t release a new LP for several years we were still active on the metal scene participating in many live shows.


4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The concept is focusing on the drama, life contrasts and inner struggles of the soul, a psychological puzzle "like an Arlechino act".

The lyrics are focused on the three evolutionary phases of the human spirit.
First one exposes the lie, falsehood, hollowness, deceitfulness and strong egos which are causing suffering to others.

The second phase creates an image about the positive part of humanity, the good we are able to exhibit and the inner power of free will.

The third and final phase represents the ether, universal, macro-cosmic stage.
Without limits the human is the Universe ant The Universe is rolling into him. 

In fact, the album is a transposition of universal evolution of the human spirit. Each song represents a different face of the human being but in its entire the album is a window to the Awakening of the human consciousness; from selfishness, malice, “humans playing with other souls”, the whole picture turns to the role of the people on this planet, the achievement of the spiritual level.


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Kratos'?

Kratos is a Greek word meaning force, strength or power. We relate the meaning of Kratos with the strength that is in each human being, the strength to build but also to destroy, the mental power to surge above negativity but also the dualism of the human beings, the universal force that keeps us moving on.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Some notable events were the Tiamat opening act in 2005, 2008 Summer Nights Open Air Festival in Austria as well as concerts with Umbra et Imago, Rotting Christ and Suicidal Angels to name a few.
We always bring something new through our live performances so all shows are memorable.


7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

The release show for “Arlechino” is on May 6th in Bucharest Romania. It will be a spectacular event where we will be accompanied by a strings quintet (3 violins, 1 cello, 1 double bass). We are absolutely excited! We dreamt for a while to be able to organize such an event and our dreams came true!

As future plans, we are working on a promotional tour for our new album.


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of gothic and extreme metal?
  
It’s very nice to see people asking about your new materials or live performances. We have visitors on our official channels from worldwide so I believe this is a good thing.  

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

All is well when the music is created with passion. We are not here to judge or make comments on others but rather to focus on how Kratos can and will bring an improvement to metal.


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

It is impossible to predict the future so let’s focus on our immediate goals for this matter. Primarily it is our desire to set a higher standard in metal at national and European level. To achieve higher standards, a lot of work and dedication will have to be invested which of course takes time but that also allows us to evolve and gratify all those who love our music.

  
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We listen a lot of music of different genres. We haven’t a specific “pattern” and we prefer not to surround ourselves with a particular genre. Our favorite music ranges from epic, movie soundtracks as well as grind, death, black.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Reading books, movies, nature and pets.


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you very much for this interview!
I really hope that our “Arlechino” will conquer the hearts of the listener and the mind by its message. Stay true to yourself and to others!

Serotonin Syndrome/Sarajas/2015 Full Length Review

  Serontin  Syndrome  are  a  band  from  Finalnd  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post,  doom/death  metal  and  alternative  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  album  "Sarajas".

  Clean  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  few  seconds  the  music  gets  heavy  and  starts  incorporating  more  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  after  awhile  melodic guitar  leads  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  while  the  music  also  gets  progressive  at  times.

  Elements  of  modern  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  music  also has  a  good  balance  between  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and there  is  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  while  the  solos  and  solos  bring  in  elements  of  post  metal  and  alternative  rock  and  as  the  album  progresses  atmospheric  synths  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  the  heavier  riffs  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  blast  beats  and  depressive  black  metal  screams  are  utilized.

  Serotonin  Syndrome  plays    as  style  of  post  metal  that  incorporates  elements  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  while  also  having  the  melody  of  alternative  rock,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Serotonin  Syndrome  are  a  very  great  sounding  post  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rusted  Rainbow  In  the  Horizon"  and  "Catharsis".  8  out  of  10.  

Sea/Self Titled/Third I Rex/2016 EP Review

  Sea  are  a  band  from  Boston,  Massachusetts  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  and post  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2016  ep  which  was  released  by  Third  I  Rex.

  Drum  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  distorted drones  before  going  into  a  very dark,  heavy  and  melodic  direction  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  spoken  yet  aggressive  and  you  can  also h ear  a  touch  of  post  metal  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  vocals  also  use  clean  singing  at  times  and  most  of t he  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Elements  of  sludge  and doom  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  very  melodic  and  bring  in  a  touch  of  stoner  rock  and  when  clean  playing  is  utilized  it  gives  the  music  more  of  a  progressive  feeling  and  most  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  slow  musical  direction and  on  the  second  track  growls  and  screams  are  brought  into  the  music  briefly  along  with  the  music  also  speeding  up  for  a  few  seconds  and  bringing  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Sea  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  sludge,  doom  and  post  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  nature,  time,  ritualistic  and  mythological  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Sea  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  yuo  should c heck  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Moros".  8  out  of  10.

Ides Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, ca you tell us a little bit about the band?

Somewhere autumn 2013 beyond the reach of my control I experienced loads of trouble sleeping. In stead of wallowing in sadness, sorrow and exhaustion l spent many nights writing music, in the beginning mostly riffs without any idea where it would lead me to, after a few months things started to fall in place and somewhere february 2014 the first Ides songs were composed. Back in that period it was just me, and until we started recording our first promo no others were involved.
At the time of the recording the band consisted of HTP (vocals), TMM (drums), GEP (violin) and me (guitars/synths). As said above, we recorded a one track promo and went on recording our full length immidiately after that. Both recording and mixing took up quite some time, we send out a rough version of the album to a selected set of labels from which we received quite a lot of positive reactions. After rearranging some songs, adding some extra synth and violin parts and getting the songs mastered we found that Vic Records was the best fitting label for us, they really love the old school death metal and doom/death metal that is so dear to our hearts and really understand what we want and stand for and now it is time to see what the rest of the world thinks about our depressive tunes.


2.You have your first album coming out in April, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

From the late eighties/early nineties my main interest concerning music has been doomy death metal, starting with the first Paradise Lost releases and My Dying Bride, discovering Celtic Frost, Candlemass and Trouble, and offcourse being knocked down by Winter. I still remember buying the Into Darkness album and playing it non stop for days and days and days.

During the writing sessions I dazed off into an almost hypnotic state and went back to those days. Where many doom-death bands have clearly a lot of Black Sabbath influences, we are more influenced by the above mentioned early doom-death bands, don't get me wrong, I like Black Sabbath, early Ozzy solo and Dio stuff a lot but I do not think those albums have been of much influence on Ides. If any music prior to the first wave of doom death metal has made a mark on Ides it would be Marc Bolan/T-Rex, Bathory's Hammerheart and Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium.
If I was to describe the musical style/sound of Ides/our debut album l guess it would be something like old school depressive down tuned doom death metal with psychadelic soundscapes and synths.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

While writing the songs l spent many hours thinking about how l feld back in the days l got infected with the doom-death virus. It was not the most joyful period of my life and most of the lyrics are based on my life and times from those years, offcourse quite metaphorical (l did not really drown -Relief, nor did l survive a nuclear war -children of the revolution).

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ides'?

It might strike you as pretty far fetched but let me try to explain my thoughts and how l caress this band and its endavours.
Ides was founded in a time when I was living day to day, month to month, closing one period of my life, entering a new one, leaving behind just as much as it has coming, balancing on the edge of hope and despair, a monthly struggle to retain just enough to proceed, the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end. According to the old roman calendar ides is the centre day of each month. Ides is the pivot point, Ides is the centre.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

There was and still is no intention of bringing the songs to the stage but we will see what happens, also currently we do not have a drummer and the other members live pretty far apart while all having enormous busy lives which makes rehearsing or even planning rehearsels almost impossible.

7.The new album is coming out on Vic Records, are you happy with the support they have given you so far ?

Vic Records is lead by someone with a lot of similair musical interests, and really understands what we want and seek for concerning the distribution, promotion and the look of the release it self while never interfering with the music/trusting us completely. Everything we asked for was taken care of and on top of that we are featured on a sampler cd that comes with the next issue of SOB magazine and I have seen quite some adverts for magazines with our albums amongst the other new Vic Records releases.
We are proud to be a part if the Vic family and as things look now, we would be happy to stay there for a while.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom and death metal?

Feedback on my music ...
I have been active in several black- and death metal bands (a.o. Empire of the Scourged, Göll, Blunt Knife Idol, Styxian Industries and Temple ov Decibel) the vast majority of the feedback has been very positive for those bands, only Temple ov Decibel has received very mixed and sometimes very bad comments but we expected that and had the best time creating those songs.
Regarding Ides we have to be a bit patient, we did not put much effort in getting reviews/opinions for our promo and most of the reviews for the upcoming release have yet to come, however the people that have heard songs are all very enthousiastic and looking out to get the fysical album in their hands so we are pretty confident and looking forward to the coming reviews!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The music Ides delivers onto the world will always be heavily rooted in the late eighties/early nineties doom death metal. We have written the frameworks for twelve new songs and a few things we can tell is that allthough it will contain mostly utterly slow riffs, doomy rhythms and devouring dramatical melodies we will incorporate some more uptempo riffs into the songs as well, also we will use more different instruments including piano, flute and horns in our compositions.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Influences:
Winter, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Grave, Evoken, Candlemass, Cathedral, Obituary, Disembowelment, Autopsy, Bathory, Marc Bolan/T-Rex, Edie Brickel, Kirsten Hearse, Sinead O' Conner, Nile, Sigur Ross, Aghast, Roykssop, Axis of Perdition and loads more.

Current playlist:
Amongst many others: Undergang, Nightfell, Master, Winter, Burning Hatred, Unearthly Trance, Pathology, Hooded Menace, Extreme Cold Winter, Assorted Heap, Behemoth, Secrets of the Moon, Soul Asylum, Solstafir, Enslaved, Kari Rueslatten, old Sepultura, Jack Frost, Emperor, Triptycon, Hexvessel, Sentenced and Purtenance.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I am trying to divide my time between all sorts of creative activities, for instance besides the diverse musical projects I am involved in l am currently into making buttons for bands, after years if not even owning a single pencil I am drawing more and more, I worry about a lot of things which also takes up quite a portion of my time and l am looking into buying a screen printing unit.


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you for taking time to write us a review and give us the opportunity to tell some more about the band. To all readers l want to say: keep an eye out on both Ides as well as Vic Records. Our album 'Sun of the Serpents Tongues' is out now, it is available from both Vic records as well as from us, be prepared to be bored to death and get your copy now!

Black Royal Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

- Black Royal was founded in 2013 to fulfill the urge to play real, true and passionate metal which leans on traditional heavy rock influences. We introduced the band for the first time in 2014 with our debut video of the song "All Proven Stupidity" and the first EP "The Summoning Pt. 1" was released in february 2015. It was well received in the media and got great feedback from the crowd also.


2.So far you have released 2 ep's, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how do they differ from each other?

- We use a three dimensional idea of a sound that influence our music, - a classic 1970's heavy sound mixed with 1990's death metal and modern sludge/stoner groove. As both EP's are under the same title, - "pt. 1 and pt. 2", the sound is quite similar more or less. With this "pt. 2" our aim was to create more analogic sound that breathes with an aerial feeling. Songwise, we tried to compose them more  openly and add a slight epic touch to it. In general we don't like triggers on drums or various plug-ins on guitar and bass because it suites us better when we have real pedals, amps and cabinets. And you can't lose with a proper Boss HM pedal!


3.The lyrics cover a lot of Occult topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in Occultism?

- We are inspired of the mystical and occultic rock from the seventies because it just goes hand in hand so well with the music and the lyrics. So it is more of an artistic way of choice to add them together. I don't think that any of us is deeply into occultism by action but by a thought of a more real self-assertion and individuality. We believe in free thinking and the teachings of a left Hand Path and everything that empowers yourself to be a better person. Lyrically we cover those themes with anti religious stance which is a straight result of the hate I personally feel towards institutionalized church and their hypocrite deeds to gain control and world domain.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Black Royal'?

- Well, not much anything, hah! Of course the band's name has to be easy to remember, ageless and it should reflect well what the band is all about. There has to be some cool sounding words, majestic feel to it and I think we pulled that one off quite well. And our logo is easy enough to be carved onto the school desk during class!


5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

- For us the live shows are the biggest drive to do this in the first place. Every music should be enjoyed from the stage,  live, raw and naked. It shows what the band is all about, period. We got a chance to play live in The Baltics last autumn and it was a really cool thing, so those would be one of the best gigs so far. We like to have a party going on when we hit the stage. Even thou our music and the lyrics can be interpreted as dark and hopeless, our live shows are not about sadness or grief, it's all about having fun with the same kind of people who share the same kind of interest in music that we do. Drink beer, people!


6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

- This EP is just released and of course we aim to play live shows more often than last year. For now there's just a couple of gigs confirmed in finland, but as we speak we have been asked in couple of places to do a mini tour in Easter Europe region this autumn, so let's keep our fingers crossed. In general, we want to play anywhere, anytime, almost at any cost and with everybody so contact us now!


7.The new album was released on 'Armless Stranger', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

- It is just our own "label" which we use, because these two EP's are self financed. It's way more cool to have your records released by some fake label than to tell people that we are all poor miserable old fucks, right?


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

- All together the feedback has been really great and supportive. And we appreciate it deeply. It's the type of music we play that tend to confuse some of the critics and they don't know how to categorise us. Some are quite lost with the variety in our music and doesn't seem to get it at all and some of them are totally overwhelmed by it and tells that we have invented our personal style and it's something new. Nonetheless, there's no middle ground for us - love us or hate us, hah!


9.Are any of the band members involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

- Not so much nowadays. This band is our main focus at the moment and it will be active for long period ahead.


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

- That's an interesting question because we really don't know! I think we keep on blending this death'n'sludge-thing for more and see what comes around. From my personal view I would go deeper with the atmosphere as we have on the "Demonspawn" video and feed from the more evil and epical atmosphere. We were once told after a show that we should add more Watain into our music and that is not a bad suggestion at all.


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

- Entombed, Black Sabbath and Eyehategod are the biggest influences. Naturally there are hundreds of bands that we like, listen to and get inspiration from. When we had the first practice we played Entombed, Nine and Cancer Bats covers. Black Royal is a mix of a "Heartwork"-era Carcass playing a song from Down wearing a Entombed-shirt with a crooked cross, totally drunk.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

- 3/4 of us have kids so all of our "spare" time goes with the family. And so it should. I think we all like books, movies, going to other bands gigs, drinking beer and watching the game. You know, the usual stuff.


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

- Thank You for the interview and keep up the good work! We hope that people will check out Black Royal and spread the word. Horns up! Cheers!